Textile tube holders



1966 T. H. LEONARD 3, 9

TEXT ILE TUBE HOLDERS Filed Feb. 15, 1965 lA/VENTOR THomA s HEIVR Y LEO/VAR D United States Patent 3,294,352 TEXTILE TUBE HOLDERS Thomas Henry Leonard, Flockton, near Huddersfield, England, assignor to Edwin Field & Sons Limited, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Feb. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 432,711 6 Claims. (Cl. 248-309) In several textile processes prior to the conversion of the yarn into fabric and for storage and transport purposes, yarn or threads are supported on tubes which may be made of paper, plastics, wood or other convenient materials. Some of these tubes are conical or part conical and some are closed at one end, so that it should be understood that the term tube is used in a wide sense.

Machines or frames on which the tubes have to be mounted are provided with tube holders. One disadvantage of such tube holders is that one size of holder will only accommodate a single bore size of tube. In order to accommodate a range of tube sizes on a single tube holder some tube holders are made of spring steel wires arranged so that the wires are stressed as a tube is pushed over them, whereby the tube is retained by the resilience of the wires. These resilient holders are expensive and it is the object of the present invention to provide a tube holder which will accept a range of different bore sizes of tube and which is relatively inexpensive.

According to this invention a textile tube holder comprises a central post, and one or more fins projecting outwardly from the post, the arrangement being such that the outer edge or edges of the fin or fins are adapted to engage with the bore of a tube placed over the holder to locate the tube on the holder.

Preferably there are two or more fins projecting in a substantially radial direction from the post. It will be appreciated that if only two fins are provided, they must be substantially diametrically opposite to each other in order to locate a tube, whilst if more than two fins are provided, the angle between any adjacent pair of fins mus-t not exceed 180.

If only a single fin is provided, it must subtend substantially 360 around the post, and is preferably helical in formation.

If the fins .are rigid and have outer edges .parallel with each other, then the holder will only accommodate one size of tube, although advantages may accrue from the construction, in that it lends itself to moulding and the holder may be made of plastics material.

If, on the other hand, the fins are resilient (and certain plastics lend themselves to a resilient construction), it becomes possible to use different sizes of tubes on one holder, because the fins can be arran-gedfor example by curving them in the plane at right angles to the axis of the postso that their overall effective diameter can be reduced as the tube is pressed over the fins.

Furthermore, if the fins are tapered longitudinally, then the holder is adapted to receive conical tubes and considerable variations in tube bore can be accommodated, because the edges of the fins provide an effective conical surface, and smaller bore tubes will not fit as far over the holder as larger bore tubes.

The central post may itself be tubular, so that the holder can be threaded on to a peg; but in any event, it is preferred to pro-vide a base having holes to receive fixing screws.

One construction of a tube holder for textile machines will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the tube holder,

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the tube holder looking in the direction of arrow II in FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the tube holder.

The holder itself is manufactured as a one piece moulding in a soft grade of polyethylene and comprises a disc shaped base 11 from the centre of which a tubular post 12 projects upwardly. Arranged around the post 12 and projecting outwardly therefrom at intervals of are three fins 13, 14 and 15. Each of the fins 13, 14- and 15 is tapered from top to bottom, the widest part being at the bottom where it is joined to the base 11. Thus, the outer edges of the fins 13, 14 and 15 together define a conical support upon which conical tubes may be placed. It will be appreciated that the equal angular spacing of the fins 13, 14 and 15 provides concentric location of the tubes on the holder, and that a range of different bore diameter tubes can be accommodated on the fins, because larger bore tubes will simply fit lower on the fins than smaller bore tubes. The entire assembly of the post 12, the fins 13, M and 15 and the base 11 is sufficiently rigid to hold the tube and its yarn package in the proper place.

It may be obsevred from FIGURES 1 and 3 that the fins 13, 14 and 15 are curved in horizontal cross section, the purpose of this being so that they may be deformed by further curvature owing to their inherent resilience, to reduce the effective outside diameter of the holder if required. This provides a means for stressing the fins to hold the tube firmly on the holder. To assist in the deformation of the tube holder, the outer lower edge of the fins 13, 14 and 15 are not united to the base 11 but slots 16, 17 and 18 are formed.

For fitting the holder on to textile machines three holes 19, 20 and 21 are formed through the base 11, one hole between each pair of adjacent fins, to receive fixing screws (not shown). With this construction it is possible to use a variety of fittings. For example, if the holder is to be used on a tubular frame, a simple conduit clip may be secured to the underside of the base 11 by screws.

'It will be understood that the invention may be carried out in several ways. For example, the fins may have parallel edges to accommodate straight base tubes; more than three fins may be provided and the fins may be arranged somewhat helically around the post.

In an alternative arrangement there is only a single fin arranged helically around the post, and completing at least one convolution.

I claim:

1. A tube holder for supporting a yarn-package tube in a textile machine comprising a circular base, a central post projecting vertically from and fixed to said base, a plurality of fins projecting substantially radially from said post and being united at their lower ends adjacent said post to said base but not united to said base at the outer extremities of said fins, each of said fins being tapered from top to bottom with the widest part of each of said fins at the bottom, the outer edges of said fins together providing parts of a conical surface for locating a tube on the holder, all of said base, said post and said fins being formed as a one piece moulding of resilient plastic material.

2. A tube holder for supporting a yarn-package tube as claimed in claim 1, which each of said fins is curved in horizontal cross-section.

3. A tube holder for supporting a yarn-package tube as claimed in claim 1, which is made in a soft grade of polyethylene.

4. A tube holder for supporting a yarn package tube in a textile machine comprising a central post, a plurality of fins projecting substantially radially from said post, each of said fins tapering from top to bottom with the widest part of each of said fins at the bottom, the outer edges of said fins together providing parts of a conical surface for supporting a tube on the holder 3 4 and for adapting said holder to accept a range of References Cited by the Examiner different size tubes and said tins and said post all being UNITED STATES PATENTS formed as a one piece moulding of resllient plastlcs ma- ,[eriaL 1,966,247 7/1934 Janssen 242130.3 2,964,174 12/1960 Litchfield, et al. 206-59 5. A tube holder for supporting a yarn package tube 5 as recited in claim 4, in which each of said fins is curved 3,093,332 6/1963 Jackson 242465 in horizontal cross section.

6. A tube holder for supporting a yarn package tube CLAUDE LE Pr'mary Emmmer' as recited in claim 4, which is made in a soft grade of J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner. polyethylene. 10 

1. A TUBE HOLDER FOR SUPPORTING A YARN-PACKAGE TUBE IN A TEXTILE MACHINE COMPRISING A CIRCULAR BASE, A CENTRAL POST PROJECTING VERTICALLY FROM AND FIXED TO SAID BASE, A PLURALITY OF FINS PROJECTING SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY FROM SAID POST AND BEING UNITED AT THEIR LOWER ENDS ADJACENT SAID POST TO SAID BASE BUT NOT UNITED TO SAID BASE AT THE OUTER EXTREMITIES OF SAID FINS, EACH OF SAID FINS BEING TAPERED FROM TOP TO BOTTOM WITH THE WIDEST PART OF EACH 